


Never Alone

by momijizukamori



Category: Haibane Renmei
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 01:12:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momijizukamori/pseuds/momijizukamori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>With <a href="http://8tracks.com/momijizukamori/never-alone/">accompanying instrumental mix</a> :)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Never Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Star of Heaven (rubylily)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubylily/gifts).



> With [accompanying instrumental mix](http://8tracks.com/momijizukamori/never-alone/) :)

There was almost a sense of symmetry to it - to lose one friend at the start of winter, and one not long before it's end. Even as she picked up the old paint supplies and drop-cloths in what had been Reki's studio, Rakka wished they had had more time. Reki and Kuu and her and everyone else - it had only been a few months. The very beginnings of a story, not a complete one - and despite herself, she could feel the pain well up in her chest, the tears making themselves known. It wasn't the first time she'd cried since Reki had left them - not even the first time it had been in this room, burying her face in her knees so the others wouldn't hear and worry.

Everyone had felt the loss, really. The others had known Reki longer, had a chance for their stories to intertwine and grow and bloom. They were sad - it was hard to miss in the wistful look Nemu gave the paintings they'd started framing and hanging up, or the way Hikari still hesitated at Reki's old spot when setting the breakfast table. But they were mostly able to be happy for her - that Reki had overcome her challenge, that at the very end she had found a place of peace. Rakka was happy for her, too - and she had known that helping her friend meant losing her. But it wasn't quite enough to overwhelm the grief she felt - not yet. So she cried here, alone, for her black-haired bird, who had always stayed by her side even when she thought she was all alone.

It didn't take long to clean out Reki's old rooms - even in between her work at the temple, and taking time to hang paintings that had been left, she was done within a month. That in itself was hard to accept - while it had been getting easier to think of the happy memories of her friend without pain, being finished meant accepting for certain that Reki was never going to use these rooms again, that the things in them would go to other people. They had all gathered then, as they had done with Kuu, to choose a keepsake. Kana, predictably, claimed the scooter - though only with the promise she'd share if need be. Hikari and Nemu both took paintings, and with a little hesitation, Rakka stepped forward to claim the diary. None of the others complained - Nemu said that it was best for her to hold on to it, and to keep it safe. Rakka had blushed, but beneath it had been a surge of happiness - that they all understood how important it was to her.

Once that project was done, Rakka found herself helping out more and more with the Young Feathers. It seemed to make sense - she didn't have to be at the temple until the afternoon, and the children had more energy in the mornings anyway. And they all missed Reki too, even if not all of them would have admitted to it. They could be tiring - and a little frustrating, sometimes - but she found she liked it, liked hearing them tell her what the housemother had taught them in the evening, or what Nemu had read to them at the library, liked that they crowded around her to hug her legs and laugh or cry without reservation. That made her feel better, too - that they could share how they felt so openly, to cry into her dress, and she could feel her own heart open in return.

When she found the new cocoons on one of the regular checks, she could barely contain her sheer excitement, tripping over her own feet in her haste to tell the others. Later, as she took her scheduled watch over the growing forms, she wondered if this was how Reki had felt, finding her cocoon. This sense of anticipation, the feeling that something wonderful was going to happen soon. They grew quickly, and it wasn't long before they pressed up against each other and the walls, and Rakka was amazed that something hadn't burst. She checked on them whenever she had a free moment, even if it wasn't her turn to keep watch. When it looked as if they were both ready to hatch at any moment, she begged the Communicator for a few days off of work, and he acquiesced.

She had nearly dozed off watching the cocoons when the first crack startled her back awake. She ran out into the hallway to call for the others, and then went straight back into the cocoon room. The second one had begun to crack as well, and Rakka came closer, curious. Then the first burst, and before she could get her footing, the second as well, which left her sitting on on the floor, as wet as the two newborns there with her. She couldn't help it - it all just seemed so silly and wonderful at the same time that she laughed for the first time in months, and the second girl, with short black hair and dark eyes, gave her a confused look. Rakka slid close enough to both of them to wrap her arms around them - the dark haired girl and her 'sister', with long wavy brown hair.

"I know everything seems strange right now, but I promise that for as long as you're here, you'll never be alone."


End file.
